


S.G.S.G.S.G.

by Meraus



Category: Bruno and Boots (Movies), Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bruno's Perspective, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I try to keep it g rated but theres like two swear words in there so theres that, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Unfinished, can i still tag it as g rated with my two swear words?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-23 10:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13187982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meraus/pseuds/Meraus
Summary: Cathy and Bruno fall in love with their best friends and accidentally start a gay movement, which then goes terribly wrong, as tends to happen when they are involved.





	1. Chapter 1

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ll have you know this is a shared pool facility and it has my name on it, Walton.” Cathy tuts as she joins him on the bleachers. “I couldn’t help but notice you pouting over here, or, exuberating enormous amounts of negative energy, as Ms. Scrimmage would have us put it. Then I noticed where that energy was directed,” She says, pointedly looking over at Boots and Diane. “And I felt a new SG Times Three meeting might be in order.”

“In other words, you walked in, saw them being-“ Bruno grunts and rolls his eyes, “Disgustingly cute together and needed someone to vent to. The fact that I’m here was just a happy coincidence.”

“Please, you’re always around somewhere when Bruno is practicing.” Cathy taunts him, smiling from ear to ear as she elbows him playfully.

“It’s called team spirit.” He defends himself.

“And isn’t it just too bad for us we’re supposed to be rooting for the other team.” Cathy laments wistfully. Her playful energy visibly drained, or maybe it was never genuinely there to begin with.

“I hear that.” Bruno sighs. “But what can we do, amazingly fantastic friends that we are? Root for their relationship to fail?” He’s the one smiling now, filling in the role Cathy abandoned.

“We could actively scheme for it to fail. Honestly, we are a gift to this world, being so good about it.” Cathy jokes along.

“But our friends’ happiness is more important than the slight chance we may have if we make them miserable by breaking them up.” Bruno chants. That sentence has become a sort of mantra for the SGX3. No matter how bad they feel watching the person they have a crush on get swept off their feet by someone else, how can they possibly justify breaking them apart? Cathy and Bruno both felt doing something so atrocious would be wrong, hence the secret support group.

It was completely accidental. One day they were all pretending to be straight kids with very close best friends and the other, those close friends started dating each other. It was then that they recognized that jealous stare in the other. Of course, at first they both assumed the other had a straight crush, but when they hit each other with that “Isn’t (s)he popular” at the same time, the penny dropped for the both of them.

That recognition was near immediately followed by a secret kitchen meeting and the planning of an abundance of schemes. Under the Committee of Broken Hearts, they initiated a few; “Trouble in Paradise”, where the mission statement was to find a way to have them disagree (which wasn’t very difficult, considering all people will find something to disagree about sooner or later) and then catalyse the argument into an all out fight, after which they would break up. This ended with Diane and Boots overcoming their differences and being a better couple for it.

Then there was “Seduction”, whose mission statement was to introduce new potential love interests and have their attention wander from their relationship, after which the pair would think they wouldn’t do the other right by staying in their relationship. What was soon discovered is that nobody quite makes the pair of them swoon like they do each other.

Then it was time to initiate “We’re Awful and We Don’t Deserve Their Friendship”, the one where they tried to impersonate their best friends and be so horrible neither of them would want to have to do anything with the other afterward, least of all talk to them, so that they would never figure out Cathy and Bruno were behind all those mean comments. Needless to say, neither Cathy or Bruno had the heart to go through with it.

After failing that operation before even properly setting it in motion, they decided to start the S.G.S.G.S.G., the Secret Gay Support Group for the Secretly Gay, or the SG Times Three. In this plan, they wouldn’t hurt their friends at all and, should their friends unknowingly hurt them, at least now they had someone they could talk to who understood that specific brand of hurt.

It was mostly Cathy’s idea, which she got from Ms. Scrimmage’s great leadership and example, and Bruno was eternally sour about it because it was actually pretty great and he would’ve loved to be able to take full credit for it. He hadn’t even come up with the full name. Cathy added the final S.G., because that would give them a shortcut that rhymed. At least he talked Cathy out of putting her name on it as well. The Cathy Burton Secret Support Group for the Secretly Gay just doesn’t have the same nice ring to it, if you ask him.

“I just don’t get why it gets worse.” Bruno mumbles, his mouth half covered by the hand he’s leaning his face in.

“What do you mean?” Cathy asks, her eyebrows are drawn together and she’s got this questioning, yet intrigued, look, like knows some hot gossip is about to follow.

“Before coming here, there was this other boy-“

“Woah, hold up. Boots isn’t your first crush?” Cathy interrupts harshly. She shoots upright in her seat, fully interested now.

“Even better, I had a proper boyfriend.” Cathy’s mouth drops open.

“You jerk! I was here thinking we were going through the exact same ‘first crush’ experience! Our entire group is founded on that believe!” She whisper-shouts. She shoves him playfully and Bruno almost loses his balance. He laughs and lets out a string of apologies. He puts his hands up in surrender as he turns back to her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just- I didn’t want to tell anyone about it, it’s the lamest end to a love story in history, and that’s saying something, considering how many lame love stories are out there!”

“Well, the other foundation is the sharing of sensitive information, so tell me already!” She scolds him.

“Alright well, before MacDonnell Hall, I had a crush on this boy in my class. Turned out, he liked me, too. After some convincing, of both myself and him, we started doing couply things together-“ Cathy gasps and motion for him to continue. “You know, like you see on T.V., holding hands, trading kisses, and always in secret. We weren’t quite the ninjas we thought we were, though. We got caught, by his parents.” Cathy almost screams in second hand embarrassment, and that cut-off whimper draws the attention of some people in the pool building.

“Would you quiet down! Remember this is a sad story, don’t get all excited.” Bruno scolds her in the same fashion she had scolded him earlier.

She hurriedly apologizes and motion for him to continue, again.

“So, as I was saying, his parents caught us and reprimanded both of us. But then, they turned to me. They told me, a kid like me, who likes that loud music and lining his eyes with that dark chalk, surely I must have turned their son gay.”

Cathy gives him this look, he doesn’t know what it is exactly but he doesn’t like it. Before he can move on, she interrupts. “You don’t actually believe that, right? The part where you ‘made’ him gay? I mean, no level of brilliance could have made that boy fall for you if he wasn’t already interested. You didn’t do anything wrong, and being gay isn’t wrong.” She gets defensive over it at the end, like she really needs him to know this and accept it as fact. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but he likes Cathy a lot. Likes that she so forcefully pushes him to the best path. He nods at her, showing her he agrees with what she’s saying.

“No, I don’t believe them. And I know that I’m- that _we_ aren’t wrong.” He assures her. He just wants to move on from that, so he does.

“Anyway, his parents told mine, so I was outed- and don’t even argue with me that I can’t be a member anymore, I told them I was just curious, so technically I’m still in the closet-“ He scampers to add the last part, because he really needs this club.

“They didn’t react well?” Cathy asks curiously.

“I mean, I don’t know? I didn’t really give them time to react. I just threw excuses at them and ran to my room. I didn’t want to talk about it and they didn’t pressure me.”

Cathy hums thoughtfully. “Maybe they’re okay with it and they just want you to come out on your own terms?”

“Let’s hope so.” Bruno nervously rubs his hands on his lap. “But, I have a story to finish.”

Cathy doesn’t push him and instead nods her head and leans in a bit. Bruno realises his mistake the moment she does that, because he knows how that story ends and it’s just plain weird. Cathy could draw all sorts of weird conclusions. He starts talking, though, because telling it to someone makes him feel lighter, somehow.

“So, there we are, both outed and we weren’t allowed to see each other anymore. The year came to an end and I wound up here, confronted right away with-“ He finishes with a gesture to Boots.

It’s silent for a few seconds. So much so that Cathy knows there’s still something to come. She raises her eyebrows at Bruno and, for a third time, gestures for him to continue.

“I’m just… Rearing up for the very worst part of the story, that I’m not entirely sure I want to tell you.” Bruno confesses.

“Well, you don’t have to. I just think it might be better for you if you do, and also I’m very curious and don’t want to be left hanging, but that’s a secondary concern.”

In a quick moment of courage, Bruno blurts it out. “Confronted with Melvin number two. The first boy was named Melvin, too.”

He says it so fast it sounds like a single word and he hopes that Cathy didn’t catch it, but of course she did.

This time Cathy screams out an incredulous “No way!” that reverberates through the entire pool house, catching everyone’s attention. She smacks a hand over her mouth, which is followed by Bruno’s hand over the hand on her mouth. They glance back cautiously at the crowd, wincing so hard it could leave a permanent wrinkle.  
They catch the confused stares of Diane and Boots and awkwardly wave at them with their free hands. The pair waves back just as awkwardly, adding some upturned eyebrows and questioning looks. It’s mortifying.

Bruno is quick to wave away the worry and turn back to Cathy, who is looking at him with big, round eyes. He takes his hand off, after which she takes hers off too.

“Is that why you gave him that nickname? Is that why you want his parents to love you?” She whispers at him, in the same fast pace with which he confessed the last bit.

“I don’t know, I think… Maybe? It might be part of that. But it’s also it’s own thing!” He whispers back. They both understand they need to be very cautious about speaking too loud after Cathy’s outburst.

“I want his parents to like me because he’s my best friend and I’m hoping to be around for a long while, I might be seeing them a lot in the future. And Melvin is an awful name. Any kid named Melvin needs a nickname.”

Cathy nods her head like she agrees. “It really isn’t the best of names. Boots fits him better, anyway.”

“What about you?” Bruno inquires.

“What about me?” Cathy shoots back at him.

“I told you mine, now tell me yours.”

“Hate to disappoint, but my story starts with Diane and really isn’t as interesting. As you can see, nothing happened and here we are.” She gestures to the pool house at large for emphasis.

“Still.” Bruno pushes her. She’s bouncing her legs like she does want to talk about it. They’ve been having so many meetings, Bruno can read her like an open book.

Cathy takes a breath and sneaks a quick look at Diane. “Have you ever met someone that, the moment you see them, the world just stops? I think that’s the best way to describe it.” Bruno shakes his head. For him it was always a gradual thing, come to know a person and then come to like them.

“For me, it was like that. We didn’t use to share a room, I met her during one of the sharing circles and, get this-“ Cathy laughs to herself. “I was in this complete daze right, just looking at her, and Ms. Scrimmage asks me if I want to share anything and I say-“ Bruno mouths a silent no, already smiling ear to ear. “I think you’re really pretty! Right to her face, full out eye contact, there was no mistaking who I was talking to, well, except for Ms. Scrimmage, who thought I was talking to her and praised me for the positive vibes I was sending out.” Both of them burst into laughter, that once again draws the full attention of the pool house, but this time they don’t notice.

“You lying liar! You said it wasn’t as interesting! That’s one of the best crush stories I’ve heard, ever.”

“Yes, well, I do like being the very best at everything, even embarrassing myself, it seems.” Cathy laughs.

“After that, I obviously got on her radar and we were just drawn to each other. We managed to become roomies and, as I said before, here we are.” She finishes her story.

“Too bad you can’t be the best at actually getting a girlfriend. I’ve got you beat by one.” Bruno smugly jokes, holding a singer finger in the air as a make-shift point tally.

“Technically, you have me beat in boyfriends. We’re tied for the girlfriend race.” Cathy emphasizes her point by displaying her own make-shift point tally, making a zero with both hands and putting on a mocking sad face.

“Which you will obviously win.”

“Go me.” Cathy snickers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am again, with another unfinished story LOL. Please don’t hit me with sticks. Or at all. Physical violence is not appreciated ☹.
> 
> Following is the Bad News Bear Segment of every fic I post:  
> It should be noted that I’ve only watched two of the movies (Netflix hasn’t released The Wizzle War in my country yet ☹) and read none of the books. I tried to do the characters to the best of my ability. I’m also not native English, nor do I have a beta, so there may be some grammar errors and such. It’s also not so much of a story as it is a series of chronological scenes from a massive, angst-filled, slow burning, yet still comedic fic that I just don’t have the patience to write.
> 
> I hope you can enjoy it, regardless of whatever mistakes I made! And regardless of the fact that it’s unfinished.


	2. Chapter 2

It all starts to go wrong when Cathy brings in a third member. It’s perfect, she says. Now the SGX3 actually has three members. That’s fantastic branding, she says. This new girl is a badges and patches hobbyist, so she can make us official SGX3 patches, it’ll be fun. Bruno isn’t very on board with it, but deep down, he knows what the right thing to do is and the right thing here is to allow her into their support group. They can help each other.

They were doomed from that point on. 

They had secret badges, displaying their membership status, that they wore in secret places, which was sort of exciting, and the members just kept rolling in. Who knew the all-boys and all-girls school rumours, about having a lot of non-straight students, was actually true? It wasn’t even just people with crushes anymore. It was also couples coming in who were hiding their relationship, even a few who had already come out to a select group of people. They were just hiding in school. 

Bruno and Cathy could see the group was doing amazing things for the gay or otherwise non-hetero student body (“No, we’re not changing the name to accommodate our bisexual members. Gay is an often-used umbrella term in the LGBT community.”), but they could also see that all the new members were bringing new risks. The more people who knew of the secret, the higher chance it could come out, even if no one told.


	3. Chapter 3

“So, you and Cathy?” Boots leers playfully, all smug like he’s onto something.

“There’s no me and Cathy. We just hang out.” Bruno says, casual as can be. He’s not worried about Boots thinking he’s into a specific girl, at least that keeps him of the real trail. 

“With half the student body, of both the Hall and Scrimmage, it seems.” And just like that Boots’ playful comment turns sour. Now, Bruno is worried.

“It’s just this thing we do.” He hastily says.

“Well, I’d like to come to that thing.” Boots says, a little quieter now.

Bruno swallows loudly, thinking up excuses as fast as his brain can process them. “You wouldn’t like it.” He almost squeaks out, sitting up in his bed. “It’s not your thing.”

“I wouldn’t know if it was, since you don’t talk about it with me.”

“As your best friend, who would know better than me what is and isn’t your thing?” Bruno smiles from ear-to-ear as he says it, half because he feels he’s allowed to be cheeky when he’s right and half to hide his inner panic.

“You’ve got a point.” Boots agrees. He stalls for a bit, fidgeting with his cuff. Bruno thinks he’s made it out of the deep end, but then Boots speaks up again. “It just feels like you’re shutting me out, you know? We usually do everything together.”

“It’s not something I can do with you.” Bruno whispers. He feels like the breath is knocked out of him. He didn’t mean to make Boots feel that way, but as long as he’s in the SGX3, it will be that way. He doesn’t want to leave the SGX3, but now he’s considering it.

“But you can do it with everyone else? Diane feels left out as well. We talked about it, about how suddenly our best friends seem more interested in each other, or literally anyone besides us. We-.” Boots swallows again. “We found out you had a secret kitchen meeting without us. She told me Cathy was always sneaking off late at night and I told her the same goes for you and the dates matched. We decided to follow you and you were in the kitchen.”

“You didn’t listen in, did you?” Bruno asked with extreme urgency. Boots gave him a look, like he was contemplating answering that. Bruno urged him on some more.

“No, we didn’t. We left. Diane almost cried. Man, I almost cried. Do you not want to be friends with us anymore?” Bruno nearly jumped off the bed after that. He quickly strode across the room to face Boots, who wasn’t looking him in the eye after saying that. A small blush crept on his cheeks, he was embarrassed at the confession. 

“I do! I promise that I do! Boots, you’re my best friend and I want you in my life forever-” Bruno cut himself off there, harshly. That was too far into the truth. The art of omission was lost on him, but damn if he wasn’t going to try.

“Just. Trust me, alright? You don’t want to know about the thing. In fact, I’m going to quit the thing right now. No more things for us. Just plain old Bruno and Boots.”

Boots sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Don’t. I’m sorry for pushing it. I was just feeling left out, I guess.”

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way.” Bruno says stiffly.

They hug it out but Bruno knows that’s not the end of it. It’s just going to get worse from this point. Maybe he should quit the club. He’ll talk about it with Cathy tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I haven't read the books, I'm taking the liberty of making up names for any characters that aren't the four I actually know enough about to write something sort-of-fitting for.

"I've been seeing that patch around." Boots says as they're walking outside the Hall.

"What patch?" Bruno asks, acting as nonchalant as he can in the moment. Inside, he's panicking a bit, wondering how much Boots knows about that patch.

"The one you've got on the inside of your sleeve." For emphasis, Boots grabs said sleeve between two fingers and holds it up. He gives Bruno a challenging looks that perfectly displays the words, "This one, right here."

"Oh, that?" Bruno is still going for his nonchalant, it's-not-a-big-deal act, hoping that giving as little information as possible will save him from this situation.

"Yes, that. Finnegan Cloutier has one, too. I just saw it as we passed by." Boots is giving Bruno that unforgiving side-eye, that says he knows something is going on and he wants Bruno to tell him what exactly that something is. Fat chance, Bruno thinks. He wrecks his brain for a quick lie.

"Yes, well, it's a thing from this soccer game I played some time ago." He says, knowing full well it's not the best lie he could have come up with, but at least it's something. "David Taylor-Clark made a shot that bounced back three times! And he hit all three back on the same pole they bounced off of! It's infamous, I started a fanclub and we made memorabilia." Bruno laughs, but inside he's cringing. Why? Why did he take credit for the club? Is his desire to put his name on things really as bad as Cathy's? He really hopes it isn't and also hopes Boots will be convinced enough to drop the subject, or at least take the bait to talk about crazy sports miracles.

As often happens, things do not go as Bruno wishes them to.

"Really? Because I've seen more people sporting them than any soccer game requires players." 

"I guess word got around." Bruno tries. Let it be enough.

"And by people, I mean girls from Scrimmage." Boots tacks on. Bruno knows he's doomed, knows he should reroute to something, anything.

"I guess it _really_ made rounds, then." He could _smack_ himself, he feels so stupid right now.

"How come every time I ask someone, they give me a different story?" Boots is getting agitated now and Bruno has no way of stopping it. He hasn't thought of one yet, at least. There's still hope, he tells himself.

"I guess not everyone knows the true origin? Or maybe it just got mangled the more it was spread, funny how that works." 

It takes Bruno a good second to notice that Boots has stopped walking.

"Is it funny to you, Bruno? Because I'm not really getting a kick out of this. You lying to me, I mean." Boots says and Bruno is floored. His brain just stops at the knowledge that Boots won't accept any other excuse he makes, but he also can't, won't, tell the truth. It's a heavy silence while Boots waits for Bruno to say something, but Bruno can't find the words. When this becomes clear to Boots, his shoulders sag and he walks off. Bruno wishes Elmer could make him a time machine.


	5. Chapter 5

Bruno thought it couldn't get worse now that Boots and him were fighting, but he was wrong. It all goes downhill when someone in the SGX3 reaches out to York Academy.

There is an upset in the group that nobody wants to take the blame for. A boy from York Academy was wearing the badge, but not discreetly hidden like the rest of them. They’ve turned their secret group into an Out and Proud movement, telling everyone about their secret club, which Bruno is ambivalent about. He’d thought about the best way to bring a movement to the light at MacDonald for some time. Surely, the best school in the world would accept the gay community with open arms, is what he thought. He just hadn’t found a right way to do it yet. He may not know the right way, but what that turkey did? That was definitely wrong.

Some people joined the movement. That wasn’t surprising, seeing as they’d had heated debates over going public before. It also wasn’t surprising to see patches littered around, with how many people jumped the boat after the club was found out. Maybe they should have said the full name every time, Bruno thinks, instead of the shortened versions. Maybe it wasn’t clear enough that this was a secret group. What was clear, though, was that the world was crumbling all around them.

Bruno briefly entertains the thought of having Cathy put her name on it after all, because then it’ll be easier for him to wipe his hands clean and shove all the responsibility onto her. He would never actually do that, though.

It doesn’t matter now. The damage is done. Boys and girls alike have been outed to their friends against their will and even the Fish and Scrimmage have been notified about the ‘gay upset’. They’re holding a joined seminar about it; Scrimmage’s idea.

Right now, Bruno couldn’t care less about that, though. What matters to him is that he’s been outed, too. That his friends know, that his parents might catch on, all of that falls to the background at the thought that Boots knows and will want to talk about it. He doesn’t think Boots will cast him aside, but he’s afraid that if Boots doesn’t, he might let slip the one thing he really doesn’t want anyone, especially Boots, to know. Which is why when he sees Boots coming, he does something he’s not entirely proud of: he run the other way.

Even with his head start it’s no use. Boots had always been the better athlete of the two and he catches up with Bruno faster than Bruno can think of a way to escape. When Bruno refuses to slow down, Boots forcibly tackles him to the ground.

“I’m not mad!” Boots yells from atop of Bruno. “I don’t get why you’d think I’d mind you being gay! I-“

“Shout it from the rooftops, why don’t you!” Bruno yells back. Boots seems slightly taken aback by that. He lowers his voice, but it’s still louder than normal when he says, “You shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are, is my point. Everyone loves you, even if-“

Bruno interrupted, “And my point is that it’s nobody’s business! I didn’t want people to know! I was still planning the big reveal and how to tell whoever needed to know and-“ It seemed to just be a game of not letting anyone finish their sentence, when Boots cuts Bruno off in return.

“And you didn’t think that maybe you’d clue me in?” Boots seems affronted by that, like Bruno broke a law of the universe. Hell, maybe he did.

“No. Maybe I didn’t!” He shouts back, regardless.

“I can’t believe you.” Boots seems to have lost interest in shouting. He rolls off of Bruno and drop beside him, silently fuming. Bruno, however, still has a lot of fight in him and continues the shouting match, with or without an opponent.

“If anyone should be mad, it’s me!” Bruno argues, tuning on his side to face Boots. He’s sure his face is comically twisted in his misplaced anger.

Boots looks back at him, still fuming but a whole lot less than just seconds before. “I think I’ve got a right to be a little mad as well. Regardless, I’m sorry if you felt you couldn’t talk to me or-“ That isn’t what Bruno wants him to think, at all. That not how it is, at all. His fighting spirit quickly dials down, just so he can assure that fact to Boots.

“It’s not that.” He sighs, letting himself drop on his back. “I just. I don’t want to talk about it. That turkey had no business outing all of us.”

“I think he may have to change schools. Countries, even. What a horrible thing to do.” Boots laments.

“Let’s just forget about it” Bruno silently hopes Boots will let it slip with that, that someone out there favours him today and Boots will just drop it. Of course, he doesn’t.

“I don’t want to.” There it is. The ever persistent Melvin O’Neal, who won’t do a wrong if or when there’s right to be done.

“I do.” Bruno quickly fires back.

“You’re my best friend and this is a big part of you. I accept you as you are, you know that, right?” Boots turns his head and faintly smiles at him. Bruno catches the movement in his peripheral vision, but keeps his eyes locked on the sky above.

“And now that I know, you can really tell me everything without holding back, right? No more secrets.”

Bruno wants to laugh until he cries and then cry some more. There’s always going to be a secret between them. He does laugh and, sure, a tear might drop, but Boots sees it as relief and happiness, because that’s what he wants to see. Because Boots is okay with Bruno being gay, but won’t be with Bruno being in love with him. That’s a truth of the universe that Bruno has fully accepted. The small amount of courage he gets from Boots accepting him drains away with that thought.

It’s quickly replaced with thoughts of Cathy, who must be feeling the same way Bruno is.

“I’ve got to go see Cathy.” Bruno says as he gets up. Bruno finally risks a look at Boots, who holds Bruno’s eyes as he looks up to him and nods. It’s a sign that Bruno won’t be tackled again if he leaves, a sign that whatever was wrong between them is now right. Bruno leaves, feeling that nothing is going to be alright at all.

 

It took some time to find Cathy, but luckily he knew all her hiding spots after so many SGX3 meetings.

“Well, at least now we can say that it’s just confidential gay business when we need to sneak around Diane and Boots.” Cathy laughs humourlessly. Her eyes are a little puffy, like she’s been rubbing them, but she hasn’t been crying.

“Did you talk with Diane?” Bruno asks, curious how her confrontation went. If they both have to suffer through it, they might as well do it together.

“No, not yet.” Cathy hides her face in her hand as she grumbles out, “I ran away from her.”

Bruno laughs and Cathy gives him a nasty side eye. “I did the same with Boots.” He explains. “Got tackled to the ground for it.” He snickers.

Later, Cathy would tell him that she’d had no choice but to retreat back to her and Diane’s room. She’d say that Diane looked almost like a guard dog, sitting from a fixed position on her bed, facing the door and nearly jumping when Cathy came in. Diane had attacked her like an overjoyed dog, too, immediately forcing her into a hug. Diane had started with an apology, like Boots she’d said that she accepted Cathy as she is, that Cathy is her best friend, that they shouldn’t keep secrets from each other and that the turkey from York was a fiend.

Unlike Boots, she wasn’t mad at all that Cathy had hidden her sexuality. Diane had said that she understood how scary it must’ve been for Cathy, how great it was of her to find people like her to confide in and that creating the SGX3 for everyone just shows how wonderful of a person Cathy is. Bruno was only slightly resentful, both because he hadn’t been showered with compliments and because Diane had acted like the group wasn’t co-founded by them. He thinks Cathy might have left that part out, maybe even without noticing she had. Somehow, that thought makes him smile. Even as the world crumbles, some things remain.


	6. Chapter 6

"Although I know many of you are understandably upset that your secret society had been made public-“ Ms. Scrimmage pipes up in front of a crowd which consists of the entirety of the Scrimmage girls and both MacDonald and York boys. On either side of her stand the headmasters of both the latter schools. “It would still be wrong to take this out on Mr. Stewart, even if he did do so without your consent.”

She takes a second to look over the crowd. “We would like to return to our welcoming environment, for everyone. We will not tolerate bullying of any kind.” Ms. Scrimmage is strangely formal in her speech, but it isn’t unexpected. It’s a difficult topic in a prejudiced world. Bruno just wishes it wouldn’t be. How much brighter the world would be if it didn’t matter who you are attracted to.

“Darren has realised his mistake and would like to say a few words.” 

There is some rummaging among the crowd. Although nobody would dear boo the turkey in front of the three headmasters, the sentiment of it is present among the students. Cathy is near shaking in anger as Darren Stewart stumbles up to stand beside Ms. Scrimmage, and Bruno feels that same anger coursing through his body, too. He reaches for her hand and she grips it tightly. That’s what it was meant to be; just them, supporting each other. They let it get away from them.

The boy that stand before them is visibly nervous and Bruno snidely wonders were all that pride went. His voice cracks on the first attempt at speaking and Bruno revels in it. The turkey clears his throat and says their piece regardless of how much Bruno wishes he’d disappear already.

“I’d like to start off by apologising to each of you whom I’ve offended.” He’s jittery as he looks over the unresponsive crowd. He looks back at Ms. Scrimmage, who gives him an approving nod and motions for him to continue. “It wasn’t my intention to do so. I just wanted for us all to be able to proudly walk around our halls, be a unified front,” He’s picked up courage at this point and Bruno and Cathy share a look. This way impending doom lies, their look says. “but I suppose not all of us were ready for that-“

The entire rooms tenses. It’s so tense that nobody even moves, so tense that even the headmasters are affected by it. It’s the calm before the storm, as they say, and that storm manifests itself as the booming voice of Melvin “Boots” O’neal cutting through the room, so loudly and clearly that there is no mistaking him. 

“How dare you make them at fault for your actions!?” Boots asks him. He looks almost as angry as Bruno feels shocked right now. He shouldn’t be shocked, though. Standing up for what’s right is such a Boots thing to do, Bruno should have seen it coming from the start. Diane stands up next to him. There’s a unified front.

“You shouldn’t have come up there if you were just going to shift the blame onto the victims!” Diane says, backing Boots up. Boots smiles down at her and holds her hand. All eyes are on them now, but they stand tall in the knowledge that they’re on the right side. 

Their voices break the hall into absolute chaos. Everyone has something to say now and the turkey seems terrified by it. It puts Bruno in a better mood, Cathy as well, if the death grip she previously had on him lightening to a feathery touch is any indication. He’s happy that the swaying opinion seems to be that it’s okay to be gay, that there are so many students shouting offence at the York boy, that after this there may be an actual pride movement in the schools, but he’s also starting to feel claustrophobic and on edge because of the whole ordeal. He looks at Cathy and she looks back at him, a silent pact to sneak out of there is made with that look. They use the chaos to their advantage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, folks, this is the last bit I've written so far. I don't know when or if I'll post another bit, or if I ever find the energy to do the whole story, but thank you for sticking around up until now! Please feel free to throw your ideas at me, or imagine how the story would play out from here, or in between the others scenes or whatever you feel like doing. It's been a blast for me!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt this story could deserve a break from all the seriousness of the last few chapters, so here's some bros being bros. In other good news: I have one more chapter planned and on the way! That one will dive back into the seriousness but with a fun spin on it, because I have to admit I don't like angst LOL. I just want everyone to live happy lives.

It’s not the same as it was before. In the hallway, there are kids he recognizes from SGX3 giving him the side eye, like it was all somehow his fault. In the comfort of his own room, there’s Boots giving him the side eye, like he’s something fragile that needs to be handled carefully now. Yesterday, a boy tripped him while he was on his way to the mess hall. That hadn’t happened before. Of course, it wasn’t anything serious and it was easy for Bruno to just tune it out, but Bruno loves how McDonald Hall is and right now it just isn’t the same. He hopes it blows over soon if he just continues like normal, so that’s what he’s doing right now, while walking to first period English with Boots.

“All I’m saying is, you should take a page out of Diane’s book and give me more compliments.” Bruno comments after mentioning the girls have them beat at friendship, which Boots didn’t agree with. Boots thought they were equally friendly, which was a wrong thing to think, because it simply wasn’t true.

“Diane gives you compliments?” Boots asks like that would be the strangest thing in the world, which Bruno takes offense in. He’s an outstanding young man and she’d probably compliment him all the time if they spent more time together.

“No, she gives Cathy compliments. I just hear about it and wonder what that’s like, to have a friend who appreciates you regularly.”

“Hey! I appreciate you. Regularly.” Now Boots is the one taking offense, but Bruno feels it’s just for the sake of arguing, especially since he can’t even remember the last time Boots gave him a proper compliment.

“When is the last time you appreciated me?” He asks seriously. Maybe Boots can remember.

The silence was too long and Bruno was both ecstatic about winning the argument and affronted that his best friend thought so lowly of him.   
“There was that time when…” Bruno has a feeling that Boots only started that sentence in hope of jogging his memory. He lifts an eyebrow at Boots as if to say, ‘my point exactly’. 

“You made us get tacos and I admitted it was a good idea?” Boots squeaks out. Bruno jaw comically drops. “That counts as a compliment!” Boots quickly defends himself.

“But that was ages ago!”

“Well, you don’t regularly compliment me either!”

“Yes, I do! This morning I told you you’ve really mastered the art of beating the sun to the punch, only rivalled by roosters!”

“If that were in any way a compliment, it’d be a backhanded one at best!”

“But you admit it was a compliment?” Bruno grins cheekily.

Boots throws his hands up and just groans, then heads into first period English. Bruno follows him through the doorpost with his face-splitting grin.

The next day Boots was… strange. Bruno, being an absolute disaster until about 12 P.M., didn’t catch on with what was happening until well into second period. Or, more like the answer was handed to him on a silver platter. But, well, second period took place before 12 P.M. so he can’t be blamed.

It started innocently enough. 

“I like how your hair just always looks right on you, even if you wake up with bedhead.” Boots had said that morning when his alarm clock rang at an ungodly time in the morning. It was one of those days where Boots had an early training for one of his many sports teams. Bruno had groggily muttered out a thanks and gone back to sleep, the words not really registering until he woke up much later, spearing upright in bed with a blush from his cheekbones to his collarbones. Boots thinks his hair always looks good.

The blush was still there when he meets Boots outside the mess hall, right after breakfast ended. He wonders how Cathy deals with getting any compliment from Diane at all. Maybe he’ll become impervious to it after some time? 

Boots hands him something he managed to scavenge from breakfast and Bruno wearily accepts it. Usually he’d have to ask Wilbur if he felt hungry in the morning.

“It’s amendable how well you stick to a schedule, even if it’s one that makes you miss out on the most important meal of the day.” Boots says after Bruno takes the sandwich.

“One of my many fine qualities.” Bruno murmurs, eyeing the bread suspiciously. He looks up at Boots, but the other boy just smiles back and starts their walk to first period.

Boots had been going at it all day, until finally Bruno couldn’t take it any more. Blood had been rushing to his face since that morning, leaving none in his legs. If Boots kept this up, his legs would contract permanent damage from cut off blood flow by third period. He’s not even being funny, his legs are beginning to feel like jelly. 

“It’s great that you try hard to catch up with homework even if the deadline has already passed.” Boots says and Bruno is officially done. He likes having even footing and he wants it back.

“Not that I’m not loving this sudden burst of friendly encouragement, but what are you playing at, Boots?” He asks cautiously.

“I’m appreciating you, regularly.” Boots says, and the penny drops. Of course Boots would take their conversation yesterday as a challenge, or take it as an opportunity to play Bruno. 

“The girls regularly do each others laundry.” Bruno says.

“What?”

“Well, the compliment thing worked out like this, I figured I’d try my luck at making you do my laundry along with yours.” 

Boots takes a moment to process that, but then bursts out in a loud laugh and says, “I like your go-getter attitude, too.”

“Stop.” Bruno groans, dropping his head in his hands to hide his red face. Seriously, how does Cathy survive?


	8. Chapter 8

Bruno is once again sitting on the pool house bleachers with Cathy. She likes coming here because her name is on it. Bruno can’t fault her for that too much, seeing as he would love to be reminded of a personal victory every time he entered a building. They decided to blow back life into the SGX3, only this time more secret. So secret even, their new rule was to not even speak its name. And this time, it would really be just for them. If anybody wanted another secret gay society, they’d have to start their own.

“I’ve been dropped in four consecutive trust falls, Walton! This vindictive streak needs to end before I land wrong and break my neck!” Cathy sneers, angrily massaging her shoulders. She has the bruises to back her up. He sees a really mean looking purple one run across her elbow and his face involuntarily scrunches up in pain, just from looking at it.

“Don’t I know it. I’ve been tripped, for the first time in my life.”

“First of all, that doesn’t even come close to full body collision with the floor,” Cathy starts, pointing a grouchy finger at him, “Secondly,” She puts up a second finger, “There’s no way you’ve never been tripped before.”

“Fine. For the first time since coming to the Hall.” He admits.

They share stories about things that have been happening since the incident and agree that the student bodies’ vindictive streak needs to come to an end already. They were outed just as the rest of them. It’s not like they planned for this to happen. 

Cathy tells him that Scrimmage has been doubling down on the trust exercises and sharing circles in her benefit, which she’d be more grateful for if they didn’t always end with her being more hurt than when they started. Bruno tells her even the Fish is going easy on him. He’d called Bruno, and only Bruno, which was an anomaly, to his office just to ask him if he was doing okay. He made Bruno sit through a fifteen-minute talk about the hardships of school life and a pep talk on how things can only improve when you hit rock bottom. Bruno had nearly ran from the office when the Fish had finally let him go.

They fill nearly an entire hour with their complaints and suddenly Bruno realises something.

“I’ve been thinking lately that MacDonald Hall isn’t the same since the SG Times Three was made public, but maybe the issue wasn’t everyone else, what if,” He pauses there, half for dramatic effect and half because he really doesn’t want to think he could have been the upset to the system, “it was me? I’m the one acting differently. Carter tripped me a few days back and I’ve made no revenge plans, not one!” He argues his point. Usually, by now he would have done something to get back at Carter. Something mildly inconvenient, like fill his socks with pudding during P.E.

“That sounds like an attitude improvement, if anything. Maybe you should keep it up.” Cathy laughs.

“Har har, Burton. But really, though. That’s exactly what the Hall needs in any time of crisis; plans, schemes, whacky hijinks. That’s what we need to make everything right again.” Bruno is sure of it. His way always pays off, somehow. He’s willing to take the bet.

“Maybe.” Cathy agrees. “It’s worth a shot for the Hall. I think Scrimmage needs a different approach, though. I’m thinking tough love. A heartfelt speech. An inspiring moment.”

“Uh, sure.” Bruno warily agrees. Cathy probably knows what she is talking about, even if he isn’t so sure it has a high chance of success. He hoped it would at least minimize the failed trust falls.

They both set off to their respective schools after calling their meeting closed. 

It turned out that whacky hijinks weren’t all that MacDonald Hall needed. He’d tried little things at first, like replacing all the busts with a silly putty replicas. He doesn’t call a kitchen meeting, because he’s the upset, so he needs to fix it by himself. He’s considering calling one when his schemes just don’t have the same effect as before. The boys weren’t as eager to go along with it or weren’t as accepting of it as usual. The Fish even went easy on him, a thing that rarely used to happen before, but something he was becoming used to now. It was ridiculous and Bruno was getting more and more displeased and agitated with the entire thing.

He would have to call for back up, but maybe he should outsource it. 

That same day he met up with Pennelope, who did the patches for the SGX3. At first, she didn’t want to help him, fearing another disastrous ending to his new plan, but he eventually managed to talk her into it. Or, more like he assured her there would be no risk for her. 

With Pennelope’s help, 50 dollars worth of cheap red hoodies and special-order patches, his newest plan was set in motion the following Monday. 

‘Sorry for accidentally starting the reckoning, I guess’ the back of his red hoodie read, in the yellow MacDonald Hall font. If he was going to get looks anyway, he might as well make it worthwhile.

The Fish wasn’t very amused, mostly because he’d spelled reckoning wrong, which Bruno took full credit for even though it was Pennelope’s mistake. He did promise her he wouldn’t mention her, after all. The Fish hadn’t really cared about uniform codes as long as you were somewhat decent and according, which was already apparent in him excusing Bruno for his consistently worse tied uniform ties. It also helped that the Fish was sympathetic to Bruno’s plight, so he let Bruno get away with it. When Bruno got the OK for his new fashion statements, he felt even better about the plan.

Boots questioned him about the hoodie and Bruno waved away his question with a simple “Wait for it.”

The next day, his hoodie read: ‘Apologetic Public Enemy NO.1’. The third day, ‘Sympathetic and Redeemable Villain?’. 

Eventually he got looks just because the boys wanted to know what was printed on his back that day. At the seventh day, he whipped out the hoodie he’d been dreading a bit. It read, ‘Quality Gay B.F.F. Material’. It was the mark that Bruno was done with being sorry for accidentally causing the Gay Upset. The mark that, now that he was outed anyway, he might as well own up to it proudly. 

He realises, somewhere in the back of his mind, that makes him allied to the turkey that made the mess he was currently in, but he didn’t feel like recognizing that fact. Besides, the only one he was putting in the spotlight was himself, so no one else should mind, right? 

This hoodie wasn’t a one-day thing like the last few had been, though, because at the eight day he’d hung it up as the centerpiece in a booth. The sign on the booth displayed the question ‘Too soon?”, in big, bold, red letters. On the counter lay similar hoodies, twenty with a yes displayed on the back, twenty with a no. Boots came by while he was setting it up and grabbed a ‘No’ hoodie, wordlessly putting it on, clapping Bruno on the back and continuing his route. All hoodies were gone by lunch. 

So, on the ninth day he wore ‘Sorry I didn’t print enough hoodies’ on his back. It seemed everyone was having fun with it now. People in the halls were smiling at him when he passed by. Eventually, without his doing even, a poll went up on the school website’s forum. 

He has a feeling Chris has something to do with it, since he’s closest involved with the website of all Bruno’s friends. It said “Forgive Bruno Walton?” and there was a yes and no option, much like the hoodies had. The post was flooded with defences in Bruno’s favor and reasons why he shouldn’t be forgiven so easily, but at the end of the day everyone was in agreement of one thing: it wasn’t Bruno’s fault that the SGX3 came to light and he was a victim as well. From that point on, things started going back to normal. The printed hoodies even became a minor fashion trend for a while.

He was back in the same place as before, a somewhat loveable goof who got into trouble more often than not. Boots had stopped looking at him like something fragile on the seventh day, the Fish had stopped going easy on him the moment the forum gained popularity, Carter even apologized to him. 

Over at Scrimmage, things had been a bit easier for Cathy, considering Ms. Scrimmage’s involvement. Because of her, after just three days all the girls had made peace each other. On the second day Cathy had given a passionate speech, apologizing for starting the mess, but scolding the girls for taking their anger out on her when she was just as much affected by it as them. She’d asked for forgiveness, saying she misses having them as friends and support, especially in such a troubling time.

It had worked like a charm. Cathy Burton is a master at swaying the crowd in her favour.

The only thing they have to worry about now are the rumours. While no one in the former SGX3 had told of their crushes to anyone, rumours still hit the mill. It was to be expected, honestly. Of course someone would draw the conclusion they’d have feelings for their best friends. More than one person had come to that conclusion, it seemed, and the tattle had made sure to spread it farther than any unfounded rumour had any right going. 

It spread far enough that neither Diane nor Boots could remain oblivious to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we are again; at a dead end. This is all I have to offer you kind strangers. At least I made everyone not be mad at them anymore? LOL. And who knows? Maybe I'll actually continue it even further. I hope you've enjoyed it so far.


End file.
